Why read Newjack?

Book cover of Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing

Book description

After he was denied access to report on Sing Sing, one of America's most notorious high security jails, journalist Ted Conover applied to become a prison guard. As a rookie officer, or 'newjack', Conover spent a year in the unpredictable, intimidating and often violent world of America's penal system.

Unarmed…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Newjack as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Joanna Schwartz

Author

Ted Conover, a journalist, wanted to better understand life as a corrections officer.

After Conover’s request to shadow a recruit at the New York State Corrections Officer Academy was denied, he decided to apply to become a corrections officer himself—and was hired.

Conover spent a year working as a corrections officer at Sing Sing, and his insights about the chaos, lack of training, and harsh culture at the institution—and the impact that serving as a corrections officer had on him psychologically and on relationships with his loved ones—were eye-opening.

From Joanna's list on the human toll of the criminal justice system.